Archive for October, 2008

When I was at the National Worship Leader Conference this year, Paul Baloche gave a piece of advice that I will never forget. He encouraged us to structure our worship set to take the congregation on a journey. He suggested we build a flow of thought that people can follow through the songs. He gave an excellent demonstration of this on the first night of the conference as he played “You Gave Your Life Away” then praised God in prayer for His sacrifice for us. He then said his only response could be praise and transitioned into “What Can I Do” (but Praise You)… The flow of thought from song to prayer to song really carried you on a journey closer to God. It involved the congregation…I was praying as he prayed. I was singing the words to God as he sang. I was thinking, not just singing a song. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” (emphasis added)

Last week we played a set of songs while reading Psalm 33. We started with a reading, then played part of “Unfailing Love” then read more of the psalm and played “What Can I Do” then read even more and transitioned to “Mighty to Save” then read the rest of it and finished off with the ending of “Unfailing Love”. The songs went with the words that were spoken in the Psalm. The music never stopped, but got soft as the Psalm was read then transitioned to the next song. I was amazed at how God used that time of worship. He truly showed up, and people were really worshipping Him. I am so blessed to have such a great God watching over and loving me. Yet I am humbled knowing that without Him, I could do none of this.

“Praise You God of earth and sky, how beautiful is Your Unfailing Love!”

We tried a new layout for our service last Sunday evening for our “Leadership Community” special service. It was very different. The first noticeable thing was the intimacy. When I was leading worship, I was so close to the worshippers, I could really relate to them. It felt more like I was worshipping with them than before. At the same time, I also felt more like a shepherd, pointing them to God than when I was on a stage in front. It was very inspiring to see each person worshipping.

It required me to turn in different directions to include the whole congregation. This was nice. It encouraged movement on the platform, and the movement was very natural.

Some people disliked the fact that, while on the center stage, someone was always looking at their backside. Not intentionally, mind you, but when you have people are all the way around you, your back half is always going to be facing someone. It didn’t bother me much, but others were a bit uncomfortable.

A big disadvantage of having someone behind you is that they are unable to see your face as you speak or sing. And if you are not intentional about including everyone equally, one part of the congregation can easily feel neglected. In our case, what would normally have been the front left quarter of the room, was to the backside of the speaker about 90% of the time. They just never looked in that direction for some reason.

Since people were in a circle, they were facing people on the other side of the circle. Having the people face one another was very good for community. You got to really see the other people in the congregation. This could help faces quickly become familiar. More importantly, you can hear the other half of the congregation singing back at you…which is a great encouragement to sing yourself. I feel it would help song participation.

All in all, I really liked the layout. We are considering doing a 3 sided stage instead for the next time. More like an elongated stage coming out from the main one. This way your backside can still be to the wall, and we can still get in intimate setting. We’ll see how it goes.

We have been thinking of trying a different physical layout for our church service where the stage is in the center. We decided to try it out this weekend (tonight) for our “Leadership Community” service. This is a service we have every quarter to encourage those in ministry, and let everyone know where the leadership feels called to go with the church.

Here is the layout as we planned it:

This requires the worship team to be on the ground (the yellow circles) and only the vocalists on the platform. This would only work well with multiple vocalists so the worship leader’s back is not to part of the congregation. I’ll post after the service and let you all know how it went.

By the way, the image was drawn using Gliffy (www.gliffy.com) which is a great tool for doing Visio-style diagrams on the web. Check it out, its free to try.

I’m currently going through the book of Exodus. In chapter 3, Moses sees the burning bush and determines to go see what it is. Then, verse 4 says, “And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush…” God didn’t call out to him till he had turned aside and drew near. I can’t help but think that God shows us a glimpse of Himself often, yet we never turn aside and take the time to draw near to Him. We are either too busy, or not watching.

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” James 4:8

This verse really made me think of when Jesus came to the disciples walking on the water in the midst of the storm. “…and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out” Mark 6:48-49 (emphasis added). Jesus “would have passed by them” had they not cried out. What does this teach us?

As I read further in Exodus 3, I came to verse 7, “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows”. God saw their affliction. He knew what was happening to them. He knows all. However, it appears that the motivation for Him to act was their cries to God. As long as we remain silent, how can we expect help?

“…Ye have not, because ye ask not.” James 4:2

God knows your suffering. He knows everything you need before you ask for it. Are you crying out to God? Are you drawing near to Him? Don’t let Him pass you by. Call out and draw near. He is faithful.